This invention relates to an apparatus for forming a character, such as a letter, a numeral, a symbol or the like by forming picture elements in the shape of a matrix. More particularly, it is concerned with an apparatus for forming a character in any desired magnification while the figure essentially meant by the character is maintained.
In general, in case of forming a letter, a numeral or a symbol by a dot matrix, if the formed character is of a size within a certain range, reading of the character is seldom impeded; however, when the character is enlarged to a certain size beyond such range, it becomes, in some cases, difficult to read the character. For example, in the case of letters composed of only horizontal and vertical lines such as "E" and "F", their clearness does not greatly lower even after they were similarly enlarged. In contrast, in the case of letters including oblique lines such as "R" and "X", reading of these letters when enlarged becomes very difficult. FIG. 1 shows an example of an enlarged "R", that is, it shows the case where the original dot pattern shown in FIG. 2 has been enlarged twice in a longitudinal direction and also twice in a lateral direction. In this example, however, it is difficult to read the enlarged "R" in an immediate manner.
In such a character formed by dots, the clearness of oblique lines has heretofore been raised by forming a dot for compensation between enlarged dots. In such prior art, however, the size of a character is standardized and compensation in vertical and horizontal directions is not made.